Pool tastes salty after switching from liquid chlorine to tabs

[runriver]

First off I know I know. Liquid chlorine is the better option and the tabs will raise my CYA. but after a year of trying the liquid chlorine the costs were very high ($700 Per year). So i wanted to give the tabs a shot for a year or so with knowing ill need to partially drain my pool in the winter.

but after switching to the tabs my water tastes much more salty. It never tasted this way with the liquid. So far its seeming to be a lot cheaper with the tablets vs liquid but well see in the long run, im sure ill be back to liquid chlorine as TFP recommends.

FC 4 PPM
CYA 60
PH 7.6
ALK 80


Phoenix, AZ

 

[hexabc]

First off I know I know. Liquid chlorine is the better option and the tabs will raise my CYA. but after a year of trying the liquid chlorine the costs were very high ($700 Per year). So i wanted to give the tabs a shot for a year or so with knowing ill need to partially drain my pool in the winter.

but after switching to the tabs my water tastes much more salty. It never tasted this way with the liquid. So far its seeming to be a lot cheaper with the tablets vs liquid but well see in the long run, im sure ill be back to liquid chlorine as TFP recommends.

FC 4 PPM
CYA 60
PH 7.6
ALK 80


Phoenix, AZ

4 ppm is an absolute minimum. Your target should be at least 6 - 8, depending on how much is used daily. The target value will have to be increased as your CYA concentration grows in time.

 

[dailygenesis]

That's interesting. I'm fairly new here but my understanding is that LC adds more salt to your pool than does Trichlor for the same amount of FC. I use LC exclusively and just tested for salt and found I have about 2000ppm salt currently, which is actually great b/c it makes the water feel nice. Not sure why you would taste that much more salt when you started using Trichlor other than maybe you were right on the edge of hitting the point where you can taste it and the Trichlor just put it over the edge.

 

[Donldson]

Ah yes, the "I just have to drain once a year" fallacy. Pools consume about 4 ppm of FC per day during the summer, which means using pucks they gain about 2.5 CYA per day with pucks. That means your CYA goes up about 75 per month. You also need to raise your target FC every few days to compensate.

In other words, you need to drain once or twice a month. How does that affect your cost analysis?

 

[Bperry]

First off I know I know. Liquid chlorine is the better option and the tabs will raise my CYA. but after a year of trying the liquid chlorine the costs were very high ($700 Per year). So i wanted to give the tabs a shot for a year or so with knowing ill need to partially drain my pool in the winter.

but after switching to the tabs my water tastes much more salty. It never tasted this way with the liquid. So far its seeming to be a lot cheaper with the tablets vs liquid but well see in the long run, im sure ill be back to liquid chlorine as TFP recommends.

FC 4 PPM
CYA 60
PH 7.6
ALK 80


Phoenix, AZ

The pucks tend to be more money per FC around here, what are you paying for liquid?

 

[runriver]

The pucks tend to be more money per FC around here, what are you paying for liquid?

$5 a gal for 10% / $200 per bucket of pucks

 

[generessler]

I have a SWG but use tabs now and then to tweak CYA upward (and btw prolong SWG life and keep pH down). There's a slight taste when the floater is in with fresh tabs. Not sure I'd call it salty. Hard to place.

 

[Bperry]

$5 a gal for 10% / $200 per bucket of pucks

How many pounds of pucks?

 

[runriver]

How many pounds of pucks?

40 LBS sams club

 

[runriver]

Ah yes, the "I just have to drain once a year" fallacy. Pools consume about 4 ppm of FC per day during the summer, which means using pucks they gain about 2.5 CYA per day with pucks. That means your CYA goes up about 75 per month. You also need to raise your target FC every few days to compensate.

In other words, you need to drain once or twice a month. How does that affect your cost analysis

ouch im thinking ill be back in less than a year to tell you, you were right!

 

[mknauss]

40 LBS sams club

Make sure they do not have copper in them.

 

[Bperry]

40 LBS sams club

Maybe someone can check my math on a 10k gallon pool but this would be

Trichlor @ $200/40lbs= 40lbs * 11FC = 440FC = $0.46/FC

10% Liquid bleach @ $5/gallon = 1gal*10FC = $0.5/FC

Assuming I did that right, trichlor is $0.04 cheaper per FC than the bleach. If you burn off 3FC per day you save $0.12 per day using the trichlor but increase your CYA by ~1.9 each day. After 30 days of trichlor you’de save $3.60 but increase your CYA by ~57ppm.

 

[mmdhar]

$5 a gal for 10% / $200 per bucket of pucks

I see you are also in Chandler. Where do you buy your LC? Walmart?

 

[proavia]

Maybe someone can check my math on a 10k gallon pool but this would be

Trichlor @ $200/40lbs= 40lbs * 11FC = 440FC = $0.46/FC

10% Liquid bleach @ $5/gallon = 1gal*10FC = $0.5/FC

Assuming I did that right, trichlor is $0.04 cheaper per FC than the bleach. If you burn off 3FC per day you save $0.12 per day using the trichlor but increase your CYA by ~1.9 each day. After 30 days of trichlor you’de save $3.60 but increase your CYA by ~57ppm.

Due to the increase in CYA (and it getting way too high), you need to factor in the cost of a full water exchange and your time needed to accomplish the drain/refill or exchange.

SWG is the best option. You pay for all the chlorine up front - but it's still cheaper than liquid chlorine or tabs over the course of several years. And then the replacement cell is cheaper than the initial full SWG install.

 

[proavia]

First off I know I know. Liquid chlorine is the better option and the tabs will raise my CYA. but after a year of trying the liquid chlorine the costs were very high ($700 Per year). So i wanted to give the tabs a shot for a year or so with knowing ill need to partially drain my pool in the winter.

but after switching to the tabs my water tastes much more salty. It never tasted this way with the liquid. So far its seeming to be a lot cheaper with the tablets vs liquid but well see in the long run, im sure ill be back to liquid chlorine as TFP recommends.

FC 4 PPM
CYA 60
PH 7.6
ALK 80


Phoenix, AZ

You're not supposed to be drinking the pool water in the first place.
My guess is that the salt content was just below your taste threshold and about the time you switched from liquid chlorine to tabs the salt level went up a bit to where you could taste it.

Using tabs is setting you up for a lot more effort in the long run. You will need to drain/refill at least one (or more times) per year. So now you added the water cost and the time involved.

 

[proavia]

I see you are also in Chandler. Where do you buy your LC? Walmart?

Walmart (10%), A&M Corsons (12.5% - McQueen and Warner), Pricebusters Pool &Spa (Country Club north of Southern).

If you can establish a commercial account - SCP Distributors. Wholesale only, no retail sales.

Seriously look into adding a SWG. It will save you money, time and effort in the long run. And you can leave for a few days or weeks without worrying if the pool with get chlorinated.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Run,

Why not just move up into this Century and get a Saltwater Chlorine Generator???

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Newdude]

+3 for SWG. I had a low salt error from lots of rain and wasn't entirely sure raising it would work with my water dancing the cold water shutoff line. So I needed some emergency liquid chlorine and HomeDepot had relations with me @9.06 a gallon. Evenso, I was thrilled they had (old) supply this time of year in NY.

 

[mmdhar]

Walmart (10%), A&M Corsons (12.5% - McQueen and Warner), Pricebusters Pool &Spa (Country Club north of Southern).

If you can establish a commercial account - SCP Distributors. Wholesale only, no retail sales.

Seriously look into adding a SWG. It will save you money, time and effort in the long run. And you can leave for a few days or weeks without worrying if the pool with get chlorinated.

Thank you Proavia!

 

[mgtfp]

Going back to the original question: The only explanation that I can come up with is that chloride kept accumulating steadily, first from liquid chlorine use, then from trichlor use, and at some point the concentration hit a threshold where your tastebuds started noticing a salty taste.

Only difference is that with bleach your are also adding sodium. Not sure if adding Cl- only results in a saltier taste than adding Cl- together with Na+.